Ram TRX Towing: What It Can Actually Pull
8,100 pounds is the number on the spec sheet, and it is lower than a plain Ram 1500's. Here is why the fastest truck Ram built tows less than the cheap one, and what that means if you actually tow.
The 2021-2024 Ram 1500 TRX is rated to tow 8,100 pounds and haul 1,310 pounds of payload. A plain 2021-2024 Ram 1500 with the right engine and axle can tow more than that, sometimes a lot more. That is not a mistake on the spec sheet and it is not the TRX being a worse truck. It is the bill for everything that makes the TRX the truck it is: the wide-travel suspension, the 35-inch off-road tires, the weight of the supercharged 6.2L HEMI up front, and gearing tuned for launching off a berm, not for holding a trailer steady at 70 mph.
For the 2027 SRT TRX, Ram has not published a tow or payload figure that we can verify here, and we are not going to guess at one. If you need that number to shop, call your dealer with the build you want and get it in writing before you sign.
Why a faster truck tows less
Tow rating is not a measure of engine power. It is a measure of what the whole chassis, frame, brakes, cooling system, and suspension can handle without breaking something or losing control. The 2021-2024 TRX and a 2021-2024 Ram 1500 share a lot of sheet metal, but underneath they are set up for different jobs.
Suspension travel. The TRX runs long-travel front and rear suspension with remote-reservoir shocks built for absorbing big hits at speed off-road. That geometry is not optimized for keeping a loaded trailer flat and controlled the way a tow-focused, shorter-travel suspension is. Squat and sway under trailer load behave differently on a suspension tuned for jumps than on one tuned for hauling.
Tires. The factory tire on the 2021-2024 TRX is a 35-inch all-terrain, run at a taller sidewall and a different load rating than the highway tires on a tow-package Ram 1500. Tire load rating is a hard input into how a manufacturer certifies a tow number. A tire built to flex and grip off-road is not the same tire an engineer would pick to carry maximum trailer tongue weight all day.
Gearing. The TRX's axle ratio and torque converter tuning are set up to make the most of 702 horsepower at low speed and off-idle, not to keep engine speed low and efficient while dragging a trailer up a grade for three hours. A tow-focused half-ton is often geared lower specifically to protect the driveline and the transmission at sustained load.
Weight. The 6.2L supercharged HEMI, the reinforced frame, the underbody skid plating and the wide-track suspension all add curb weight over a standard Ram 1500. More curb weight eats directly into payload, because payload is the gap between curb weight and the truck's certified maximum weight. Every pound of skid plate and blower is a pound you cannot fill with cargo or tongue weight later.
None of this is a flaw. It is what you are actually paying for when you buy a TRX instead of a Rebel or a Laramie with the Level 2 equipment group. The truck is built to survive high-speed desert running, and that design goal pulls in the opposite direction from maximum tow capacity.
What 8,100 lb and 1,310 lb actually mean day to day
An 8,100-pound max tow rating on the 2021-2024 TRX covers most of what a typical owner actually pulls: a mid-size enclosed car trailer with a daily driver on it, a decent-sized travel trailer, most side-by-side and UTV trailers, a pontoon boat. Where it gets tight is a full-size fifth-wheel, a large dual-axle enclosed trailer loaded with two machines, or a heavy equipment trailer with a skid steer on it. Those loads are where you want to be running the actual numbers, not eyeballing it.
The payload number matters just as much and gets ignored more. 1,310 pounds of payload has to cover passengers, gear, and tongue weight, all together, before you even hook up a trailer. Four adults at an average of 180 pounds each is 720 pounds gone before a single cooler goes in the bed. A loaded bed with a Decked drawer system and recovery gear can add another 150-300 pounds, and any trailer tongue weight comes out of what is left, not out of some separate allowance.
That is the honest limit on the 2021-2024 TRX: it is not usually the tow rating that gets exceeded first, it is the payload. A half-full fuel tank, a family of four, and a mid-size trailer with a heavier tongue weight than you estimated can put a TRX over its GVWR without the trailer ever coming close to 8,100 pounds.
Where the Ram RHO and the 2027 SRT TRX fit into this
Ram's answer to some of this tradeoff is the Ram 1500 RHO, which swaps the supercharged V8 for the 3.0L twin-turbo Hurricane six making 540 hp and 521 lb-ft, in a chassis that leans less hard into desert-runner suspension geometry than the TRX. If towing capacity matters more to you than outright power and high-speed off-road travel, that tradeoff is worth reading through in full in our honest comparison of the TRX and RHO.
The 2027 Ram SRT TRX carries the same 6.2L supercharged HEMI architecture, now making 777 hp and 680 lb-ft, 75 hp and 30 lb-ft over the 2021-2024 truck. More power does not automatically mean more tow capacity, for exactly the reasons above: suspension design, tire choice and curb weight drive that number more than the engine does. We do not have a verified tow or payload figure for the 2027 truck to publish here, and this truck has only been in customer hands for a couple of weeks, so there is no real-world towing experience to report on yet either. If a tow number matters to your buying decision, get the current figure from your dealer against the actual VIN and build sheet, not from a forum post or a spec sheet screenshot that may be for a different trim.
What this means if you are shopping now
If you are cross-shopping a 2021-2024 TRX against a 2027 SRT TRX, towing capacity is one more reason the decision is not just about horsepower and price. A used 2021 TRX is averaging around $69,500 on the current live market, a 2024 is averaging around $94,600, and a 2027 SRT TRX is averaging around $110,300, according to our own live pricing data. None of those numbers tell you what a given truck can tow unless you also check the build sheet for the specific model year and options, since tow packages, axle ratios, and equipment groups can shift what is actually certified on an individual truck.
Before you buy specifically to tow, do the math on payload first, with your actual passenger count and gear, not the empty-truck number on the door sticker. Then check the trailer's loaded tongue weight against what payload you have left. If the trailer you already own or plan to buy pushes past what is realistic on a TRX, that is a legitimate reason to look at the RHO or a conventional Ram 1500 with a factory tow package instead, and no shame in it. If you are still deciding between the two generations generally, our full comparison of the TRX and RHO and the current TRX buying guide both go deeper on which truck actually fits which use case.
The short version
- The 2021-2024 Ram 1500 TRX is rated to tow 8,100 lb and haul 1,310 lb of payload, both lower than a comparably equipped standard Ram 1500, because of the TRX's suspension travel, 35-inch tires, gearing, and added curb weight, not because of any defect.
- Payload is usually the limit that bites first in real use, since passengers and gear eat into it before a trailer is even hooked up.
- No verified tow or payload number exists yet for the 2027 SRT TRX. Get the current figure from a dealer against your specific VIN, and treat anything else as unconfirmed.
- If towing matters more than off-road capability, the Ram RHO is worth cross-shopping before you commit to a TRX.